A yoga programme raises an archer's score

The summary today

Three studies say yes, and none of them holds up on its own. In the first, 100 Indian national-level archers split at random into two groups, six months of yoga for half an hour a day on top of shooting: over twelve arrows at 70 metres the yoga group rises from 75.6 to 82.8 points and the control group from 76.4 to 79.1, and adjusted for the starting score a difference of 4.2 points remains, about a third of a point per arrow. In the second, 18 archers from an Indonesian university club go from an average of 6.00 to 8.50 after a period of yoga, but with no control group, no indication of how many weeks or which accuracy test, and a table that counts 26 people where the sample is 18. In the third, 50 Indian university archers split at random, twelve weeks of yoga for an hour a day on top of shooting: over eighteen arrows the yoga group rises from 69.6 to 102.9 points, the control group from 66.7 to 78.8, but the comparison between the groups is not reported as a test and the shooting distances are described inconsistently. The two studies with a control group carry the strongest figures, and both appeared in journals with questionable editorial standards, which under the registry's rule do not decide the status. The best study of yoga for archers, a 2025 randomised trial with blinded assessors, finds attention improved but does not measure the score. The evidence in favour is there, and it is limited.

Also phrased as: "yoga and archery score"; "yoga improves accuracy"; "pranayama for archers"; "yoga for concentration in archery"

Evidence

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  100 male Indian national-level archers, split at random into two groups of 50, without saying how the allocation was made: six months of yoga, 30 minutes a day five days a week on top of shooting, against shooting alone. Over twelve arrows at 70 m the yoga group goes from 75.60 to 82.80 points and the control from 76.38 to 79.08; adjusted for the starting score the final means are 83.04 and 78.83 (F = 9.45, p < 0.01), a difference of 4.2 points, about a third of a point per arrow. The control group does nothing in place of yoga, it is not known whether whoever recorded the scores knew the groups, and the journal has questionable editorial standards: a doubtful venue does not decide the status, which is why it counts as context.

  An experimental study on shooting ability of male archers: With reference to specific yoga exercises Questionable venue · Kapil Kumar Sahu, Jai Shankar Yadav

• 2021
  For Archers Published later

  18 male archers from a university club in Bekasi, Indonesia, chosen from 28 members, before and after a period of yoga with no control group: mean accuracy score from 6.00 to 8.50 (t = 4.94 against 1.740), with no standard deviations, no programme length and no description of the test. Archers in the top band go from 4 to 11 out of 18, those in the bottom band from 6 to 2, with thresholds not stated; the normality table reports 26 people. Regional journal.

  Yoga Resistance to Increase Concentration Archery Accuracy · Arisman Arisman, Ardo Okilanda, Dede Dwiansyah Putra, Muhsana El Cintami Lanos

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  50 Indian university archers aged 18 to 25, split at random into two groups of 25: twelve weeks of yoga (bhramari, trataka and jala neti) for an hour a day on top of shooting, against shooting alone. Over eighteen arrows, six per target at three distances, the yoga group rises from 69.56 to 102.88 points (t = 8.30) and the control group from 66.72 to 78.80 (t = 3.45). The comparison between the groups is asserted but not reported as a test, the second distance is given as 20 and as 22 metres in the same paragraph, and the journal has questionable editorial standards: a doubtful venue does not decide the status, which is why it counts as context.

  Impact of Specific Yoga Module with special reference to Bhramari, Trataka and Jala neti on attention among Archers Questionable venue · Nidheesh Yadav, Vipin Rathore

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  82 Indian state-level competitive archers aged 12 to 20, analysed out of 92 randomised to eight weeks of yoga, three one-hour sessions a week, or a waiting list, with blinded assessors: yoga improves the attentional networks, with the conflict index falling by 36.7 ms relative to control (p < 0.001). It is the best-designed study of yoga for archers, and it does not measure the score.

  Effects of Yoga on the Efficiency of the Attentional Networks in Competitive Archers: A Randomized Controlled Trial · Abhijit Baishya, Darshana Hazarika, Kashinath Metri

Status history

1. 2020 Not studied The first study to measure the score after a yoga programme is also the largest: 100 Indian national-level archers split at random into two groups, six months of yoga for half an hour a day on top of shooting. Over twelve arrows at 70 metres the yoga group gains 7.2 points and the control 2.7, and adjusted for the starting score the difference is 4.2 points, about a third of a point per arrow. The paper does not say how the randomisation was done or whether whoever recorded the scores knew the groups, the control group does nothing in place of yoga, and the journal has questionable editorial standards. Under the registry's rule a doubtful venue does not decide the status: the result can be read, but for now there is no answer that can be counted.
2. 2021 Reported The first study of score in a venue that can decide the status arrives, and it is weak: 18 archers from an Indonesian university club go from an average of 6.00 to 8.50 after a period of yoga. There is no control group, the paper says neither how long the programme lasted nor what the test was, and in a before and after the score can rise simply because training goes on: evidence in favour, single and weak.
3. 2022 Reported Another study with a randomised control group arrives: in 50 Indian university archers, after twelve weeks, those who add an hour of yoga a day gain 33 points over eighteen arrows, those who only shoot gain 12. The comparison between the groups, though, is not reported as a test, the distances are described inconsistently and the journal has questionable editorial standards, like the one in 2020: under the registry's rule it counts as context, and the status stays reported on the strength of the 2021 study.
4. 2025 Reported The first good-quality randomised trial of yoga for archers arrives, 82 young state-level archers with blinded assessors: eight weeks are enough to improve attentional control, but the score is not among the measures. The proposed mechanism gains weight, while the outcome archers care about still rests on the weak 2021 study, with the two from questionable journals alongside it.

Related

Related articles

• Meditation, mindfulness and yoga in archers: what moves and what does notWhat meditation, mindfulness and yoga change in archers: the studies find more effect on attention and on how archers feel than on the score.

Research lines

• 52 studiesMental training: what has been tested on archers since 1979
• 55 studiesAttention and cognition in archers: research since 1986

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